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Sunday, March 6, 2016

Sepia Saturday: Monumental steps

This post is in response to the Sepia Saturday's theme photo. I couldn't find any wheelbarrow photos so I've elected to look at the steps leading up to the fountain.

It must have been about 1962 when the Phelan family had a holiday in Canberra, Australia's capital. There was a lot to see. From the snapshots I can see that they visited the War Memorial, the old Parliament House and the Australian-American Memorial.

Family on the steps of the War Memorial, Canberra

War Memorial as it is today. It was opened in 1941 and houses a significant museum.

Family at King George V Memorial near the old Parliament House, Canberra

King George V Memorial as it appears today. It was commissioned in 1936 and constructed in the workshop but the war intervened and it was not unveiled until 1953.

The Australian-American Memorial, Canberra

The Australian-American Memorial, Canberra

The Australian-American Memorial on the60th anniversary of the opening by Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1954.It was built to commemorate the role of the US in the Pacific region in World War 2.It is topped by an American Eagle 11 metres high.

Canberra today is a very beautiful city with the national war memorial, art galleries, parliament, botanical gardens, a large lake and other special sites. It's a planned city, built from scratch, but that's a whole other story.

6 comments:

Good old Canberra - ok for short visits but having grown up there I was glad to escape. Those memorials haven't changed, but now there are lots more of them, especially lining either side of Anzac Parade leading down from the War Memorial to Lake Burley Griffin, and in the parks on the other side of the lake too.

It's amazing to me that the memorials and buildings look the same in earlier and recent photographs. They're doing a nice job in Canberra of taking care of them. I like the next to last photograph of the three children in front of the memorial.